Happy New Year
by Lukitene
Summary: “Have you ever seen the sky as clear as it is now?” Remus Lupin asks noone in particular.


Happy New Year

The Hogwarts Grounds are strangely quiet. No sounds of other people's laughter, no soft crunching of the snow beneath the feet of students making their way up to the castle. Stars are beginning to show their twinkling faces, and the pale crescent moon shines directly above the Astronomy Tower. Hogwarts Castle makes a sharp silhouette against the navy blue sky.

The lake rarely freezes before the end of January. This year, it had frozen a week before Christmas, and happy students had used the occasion to go ice skating. However, none of the four boys lying beneath the big willow beside the lake showed any inclination to do so.

"Have you ever seen the sky as clear as it is now?" Remus Lupin asks no-one in particular. He regrets his words as soon as they leave his mouth; neither of his friends really cares about such things as stars or skies, no matter how clear they are. The only orb that affects their lives is the ever-present moon. Remus shudders at the thought of how it makes him behave once a month.

An uncommitted "Uh-huh" is heard from Prongs, while Sirius barks a laugh and sits up. The pale moonlight is reflected in his eyes, and his lips are quirked into an incredibly fascinating half-smile.

"Moony, sometimes I wonder whether you're really a bird trapped in a bloke's body", he says, while he brushes some snow off the back of his black cloak. He doesn't manage to get all the snow all off, but Sirius doesn't really seem to care.

"And sometimes, Padfoot", Remus starts, and takes care to take use of Sirius' name of choice, "I wonder if you're ever going to grow up, like usual people do. You know, realising that the sky isn't a females-only area and such?"

"Maybe you ought to make the dog transformation permanent, Pads", Prongs laughs out beside them. "I think it would improve you a lot." Wormtail starts laughing as this is the funniest thing he has ever heard, but Remus is tired of the old joke. He gives Sirius a resigned look when Prongs joins Wormtail in laughing, and Sirius grins one of his wicked grins.

"You might say that, my bespectacled friend, but you forget one minor detail," Sirius says, and looks over at Prongs. "Fleas, I tell you. They're not pleasant. Besides, how would I be able to give you advice about Evans if I'm stuck as a dog?"

"Like your advice ever helped me an inch with her. Lily Evans is as unattainable as ever."

Remus hears Sirius make a mock-angry retort, but doesn't really care to listen. He knew this part of the dialogue but heart, could tell when Sirius would get tired of teasing and when Prongs would start moping about Lily's blunt refusals to have anything to do with him. -Poor lad, Remus thinks upon reflection. –He's really got it bad for her.

Remus thinks it's incredible that the four of them are friends. When he first came to Hogwarts, alone and insecure, he had been prepared to study a lot and do his outmost to gain distinction in every class. He had not been prepared to plan and execute different pranks with three amazing friends and a various degree of success. Hogwarts isn't quite as Remus imagined it would be, but he doesn't want it to be any other way.

Sirius it poking him in the shoulder and Remus comes back to the present. Realizing that he has probably been asked something, he searches his mind and tries to remember what it might be. When no sudden brainwave hit, he was forced to guess.

"No, you can't read my Defence essay; you're going to have to write it entirely on your own, I'm afraid. Not that you shouldn't have done it by now; you've had ages!"

"You were daydreaming again, weren't you, doll?" Sirius says, but his voice is full of hidden laughter. Remus can see Prongs eyeing the pair of them, but he ignores it. Just because some people seems to think that the old Remus-is-a-woman-joke is offensive doesn't mean that Sirius is saying it to be insulting. Does it?

"Gee, how did you know?" Wormtail says, every syllable dripping with thick sarcasm. "Was it the vacant expression? The slight pause before answering? Or perhaps it was that his answer, for once in his life, was as wrong as Dumbledore dancing limbo in a bikini?"

The little group started to laugh, but tried to keep silent. The war with Voldemort was worse than ever, and no students were allowed to be out of the castle after dark. Not even some of the most accomplished students in the seventh grade on New Year's Eve.

"The question", Sirius says when he's finally gotten back in control of his laughter, "was whether or not you think our ungulate friend over there will manage to get into the good books of Miss Evans, or if he will- as Wormtail and me thinks"

"Wormtail and I," Remus mutters under his breath. Sirius just continues his previous sentence as if he'd never been interrupted, but his voice is a little louder.

"Never manage to do so. What do you reckon?"

"I reckon it's a miracle that you've spent six years hanging around me and you still manage to make the easiest grammatical errors," Remus answers, his voice grave. "As far as Prongs' plans with Lily go, I can't really say anything, can I? I wouldn't betray her confidences, and I would have to do that in order to be honest."

"Lily's been talking about me?" Prongs sounds casual, but the way his body jerks is a dead giveaway. There's nothing in the entire universe he wants more right then that to know what the fair Lily thinks of him. Remus wants to let his friend know, and he finds himself opening his mouth to betray her confidences. Fast as lightening, he changes what he was going to say.

"You know very well that I'll never betray anything that I've been told to keep silent," he says, and forces himself to stop. Lily will never get a moment's peace if Prongs ever find out that she's had a slight crush on him for some time now.

"I know," Prongs says, and sighs. "I guess I should get back into the castle, seeing as I'm trying to be responsible and all that. Living up to the Head Boy status and stuff. Any of you coming?"

Wormtail scrambles to his feet as fast as he can, and Remus is about to do the same thing. It's late, and they'll have a much better view of any fireworks from the Gryffindor Common Room. Sirius puts his hand on Remus' shoulder just before he starts to move, and shakes his head slightly.

"You two go inside. Pads and I will stay out here a little while longer."

As Wormtail and Prongs start to make their way up to the caste, Remus settles down in the snow. If he's going to be staying out much longer, he might as well be comfortable where he sits.

"Mars shines bright tonight," Sirius says, and breaks the pristine silence between the two of them. "See? I know things about stars and heaven too! Did you know that all stars are just enormous balls of gas billions of miles away?"

"And here I've been thinking that they were just the lamp posts in God's backyard. Tell me, is there any particular reason that the two of us are still out here, freezing our bits off, instead of sitting in front of a fire with a nice cup of hot cocoa?"

Remus can all but see the witty comments taking shape in Sirius' mind. _You never stop thinking about chocolate, do you?_ or _I didn't realize that you'd turned 70!_

To Remus' eternal surprise, Sirius doesn't say anything. In stead, he moves over to sit closer to Remus. So close that Remus thinks he can hear his friend's heart beat. Then, Sirius simply drops down to his back as if this is an everyday occurrence.

Remus finds himself unable to look away, fascinated by the casualness of his best friend. Everything about him is so elegant, so easy-going, so un-Remus

"It's soon midnight," Sirius says, and takes looks at his pocket watch. "Let's count down, shall we?"

Remus is about to protest, but it's very hard to think when he sits this close to Sirius. Instead of saying a word, he simply nods. As a result of this, he soon finds himself in a brutal embrace by his friend.

The wrestling match is short, but enthusiastic. Sirius is the bigger one, the more muscular one, but Remus wins. He always wins these matches, but that doesn't seem to stop Sirius from getting surprised. He emits a disappointed "Oh!" when Remus lands on top of him, grinning with the delight of winning. Sirius might be better in almost every school subject, but Remus will always beat him in something.

"Ten seconds to midnight," Sirius says, his voice hoarse with something Remus doesn't recognise. Remus realises that he's not moved away from Sirius yet, and rolls over to lie beside his friend.

Sirius sits up and looks down at Remus, his face completely sober. Remus doesn't think he's ever seen Sirius without some version of a grin, not even when he'd sent Snape to the Womping Willow. It makes him feel awkward, but in a strangely good way.

"Five! Four! Three! Two!" Sirius counts, but not as loud or as childishly gleeful as he did last year. Remus wonders what it is that can make Sirius behave like a normal human being, and feels a little bit jealous at whatever it is.

"One!" Sirius says, and leans closer. Remus can see every shade of grey in the eyes right in front of him, before they slowly close. Warm, soft lips presses against Remus' own, and a warm sensation in his stomach threatens to burst out in a single, glowing ray of pure joy. The kiss is broken when both boys jerk back in surprise; the first fireworks are blooming in the sky.

"Happy New Year, Remus" Sirius whispers in his ear, and Remus finds himself grinning.

"Happy New Year, Sirius."


End file.
